Tim Leader: This is the worst drought I remember ever having

Teagasc Signpost farmer Tim Leader: 'Right now I am thinking we will struggle to build grass this Autumn.' Picture: Dan Linehan

This has been a difficult grass year for us on the farm, right from the beginning of the year but you will have those years. 

Right now we are feeding 5kg of ration and 2kg of silage. We are in a drought situation, although not a brown drought, despite the fact that the farm is a high farm and a heavy farm. Even back in 2018 when there was severe drought, we didn’t need to feed silage on the farm. 

This is the worst drought I remember ever having on this farm. It's probably made a little worse because it's late summer and I am trying to build grass at the same time which is impossible. I have an average farm cover of 461 kg DM when it should be closer to 800-900 kg DM for this farm. 

Tim Leader working among his heard of pure breed friesian cattle on his dairy farm at Glenleigh Upper, Kilcourney Rathcool, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

The cover per cow is 150 kg DM and this should be closer to 250 kg DM/cow to help build grass for the Autumn. The advice is to feed, feed, feed. Even after rain, it's still going to take 2-3 weeks for the farm to recover and if I don’t feed, covers will be run down altogether. 

Struggle

Right now I am thinking we will struggle to build grass this Autumn and we will be housing perhaps two weeks earlier than normal, all going well that is. I would think I am ok for silage for the winter but I will do the fodder budget before the next article and make sure that I have enough. I would always try to build a reserve into the system anyway to cover for situations like this.

Liming will be my focus for the next short while. I have worked hard on a liming plan for the farm over the last few years and would apply approximately 100 tonnes every Autumn. Looking at my nutrient management plan this morning with my adviser, I have a requirement for 101 tonnes of lime for the whole farm, which is spot on. 

Looking at the maps, the worst paddock is down at 5.7 pH and I will have eight paddocks to apply lime to. Because of the focus on liming on the farm, 81% of the farm is at optimum pH. This has given me the confidence to cut back on chemical N because there is more N released in soils at the right pH. It's something we have to be conscious of that if we apply lime to save on N, then we really do need to cut back the N. Otherwise it won't be accounted for in the emissions reduction calculation. I know in 2021 liming went up a lot but so too did spreading chemical fertiliser when it should be going the opposite way with the extra lime applied.

Some good news on the farm, the assistant manager, Patrick Rohan, is getting married in early September to Noreen Brosnan in Millstreet. Patrick is an important part of the team on the farm. We went in the stag recently to give him a good send-off.